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More than 100 people were given citations for blocking traffic
Wednesday night as a massive immigration reform rally interrupted
traffic at the Clark Street and Congress Parkway intersection, near the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters building in
Chicago. Progress Illinois was there for the action.

Public schools, mental health services and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to phaseout the
city's health care subsidy for a number of retired municipal workers
were some of the concerns Chicagoans raised at a budget town hall
meeting Wednesday night.

The city council's Progressive Reform Caucus held the packed town hall meeting at
United Electrical Workers Hall and heard comments from dozens of
residents about the mayor's proposed 2014 budget, which was unveiled last week.

The mayor's $8.7 billion 2014 budget does not increase property, sales or gas taxes, but Progressive Reform Caucus members expressed worry that the spending plan relies mainly on other increased taxes and fees that would impact everyone from drivers to cigarette smokers to cable TV customers as a means to help close the city's $339 million deficit.

Although Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed 2014 budget unveiled Wednesday includes no increases on property, sales and gas taxes, some aldermen say the plan relies too heavily on hiking other fees and fines to help reduce the city's $339 million deficit. Progress Illinois provides an overview of the mayor's budget plan.

Chants of "Si Se Puede!" could be heard throughout downtown Chicago as thousands marched and rallied for comprehensive immigration reform and an end to deportations Saturday afternoon. Progress Illinois was there for the event.

Despite a renovated bus stop at the corner of 31st Street and
Spaulding Avenue, activists are saying people with disabilities are
still denied equal access to public transportation and full equality in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side.

“This
is a great win, but there is still a lot of work left to be done,” said
Adam Ballard, an organizer for the disability advocacy group Access Living.

The newly-renovated bus station received fresh cement and sidewalk ramps in June, thanks to Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), who dedicated $230,000 from his ward’s menu money, which is a pot of discretionary funds designed for infrastructure projects.

Ballard,
whose mobility is limited to a wheelchair because he was born with
arthrogryposis, joined activists and community residents on Wednesday
morning to celebrate what participants called a “partial victory.”

“This is just the beginning, and now we have to continue to push for the rest of the area to get renovated,” he said.

The Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus members
released the following statement on Thursday in response to the news of
massive cuts to Chicago Public School budgets across the city.

Even
after all the supposed cost-savings arising from the closing of 50
public schools, Chicago Public Schools are now facing the most severe
budget cuts in their history. While we still do not know the full extent
of these cuts, at least 850 CPS employees will lose their jobs. Schools
received their new budgets this month and found their budgets severely
reduced.

As elected representatives of the
communities of Chicago, we are alarmed by the stripping of basic
necessities which define a school. The neighborhood schools have been
reduced to beggars, lacking such essentials as sanitation supplies,
library book funds, field trip money, playground supervision. The
principals have been given the new budgets and told to ‘do more with
less.’

Younger Chicago students in areas where neighborhood schools will close at the end of June may not be sent to Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) designated welcoming schools when they are old enough to enroll, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.